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Scenario: you made some large build on your last turn and are down to only a few cards and have no nile merchants left. You cannot build anything that's left to build. In your estimation, this is your last turn, because the player on your left has 10 cards, and there's only one column left to build, which will end the game.

All three market stalls show at least one face-up corrupt card. Obviously, you don't want any of these. Can you visit the quarry and build nothing? Or are you just stuck with getting corruption?

2nd question: Can you play a character and THEN decide whether to go to market or quarry, or must you announce where you're going before playing any characters?

The rules, under Visit the Quarry, state: "The player may opt to visit the Quarry instead, to acquire the pieces of the Palace he wishes to build this turn. To build a piece of the Palace, the Player must:
1. Play from his hand any combination of Resource cards and/or Nile Merchants . . .

To me that sounds like if you go to the Quarry, you must build something, and that you couldn't just go there to stall.

Question 1: I am torn. I can't find anything in the rules for or against it. I think I lean towards GMan's opinion. You are given two options - visit the market or build something. If you can't build something, then you should only have one option left - go to the market.

If you played it the way Luke thinks - ignore any steps you choose - then you could do that throughout the game. Not sure why, but at any time you could just choose not to buy anything when you go to the quarry and just roll the dice to the priest.

So I say you have to go to the market in this situation.

Question 2: Luke is correct here - it is supported by the rules on page 9 that character cards may be played at any time during your turn. So you could play them then pick market or quarry.

If you played it the way Luke thinks - ignore any steps you choose - then you could do that throughout the game. Not sure why, but at any time you could just choose not to buy anything when you go to the quarry and just roll the dice to the priest.

Indeed, but what would be the advantage of doing so DURING the game?
Besides, I find quite annoying to have to (potentially) lose because I MUST take a load of corruption cards that I'll never be able to use (as in the scenario described by ColtsFan76).

Well, it's really only ever to your advantage to "build nothing" if you're certain you won't get another turn, or the corrupt resources that are face-up are for a resource that has no further use (e.g., nothing that requires Wood is left to build).

I suppose you might get people trying to abuse this to trigger more offerings... "I go to the quarry and build nothing so I call roll..." but that seems like a really big waste of a turn.

The rules are clear that you go to the quarry to acquire the pieces of the Palace you wish to build this turn. There is no provision to go to the quarry just to "hang out." You must perform an action. There is no "may", in fact it says "MUST."

Allowing a stall tactic could break the game. If the face up cards were unattractive to everyone, then there could just be perpetual passing and the game would never end.

If you get stuck taking a market stall with corruption on your last turn, then that's just too bad. The cards are going to have a certain amount of luck in them, because that's the nature of card games. Maybe you should have gone to the market int eh previous turn so that you can build this time. Or maybe it's just bad luck.

"To build a piece of the Palace, the player must:
1. Play from his hand any combination of Resource cards and/or Nile Merchants that matches or exceeds the construction requirements of the piece being built..."

I define "the piece being built" as nothing.

I don't know. I see your point and I agree that stalling would be really bad, but it seems unfair that you should be forced to pick up a corruption you will not have a chance to dispose of. I suppose the alternative is that you need to be watching for "end-of-game" conditions and keep a large hand size, so that you can pick up a stack with 3 cards maybe 2 of which are corrupt and be able to discard.

Perhaps some sort of house rule/variant to allow a 3rd action of "pass" only if the market has face-up corrupt cards in all columns, and only if you did not pass on your last turn. Maybe you could even pay for your "vacation" time in the form of 1-2 talents.

I suppose the alternative is that you need to be watching for "end-of-game" conditions and keep a large hand size, so that you can pick up a stack with 3 cards maybe 2 of which are corrupt and be able to discard.